1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus having a container mounting unit (a liquid container holder) in which a liquid container internally storing a liquid is removably mounted.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a typical example of a conventional liquid ejecting apparatus, there is an ink jet recording apparatus having an ink jet recording head for image recording. As other liquid ejecting apparatuses, for example, an apparatus having a coloring material ejecting head used to manufacture color filters such as a liquid crystal display, an apparatus having an electrode material (conductive paste) ejecting head used to form electrodes such as an organic EL display and a face emission display (FED), an apparatus having a biological organic substance ejecting head used to manufacture biological chips, and an apparatus having a sample ejecting head as a precise pipette may be cited.
The ink jet recording apparatus as a typical example of the liquid ejecting apparatus makes comparatively small noise during printing and can form small dots at high density, so that in recent years, it has been used in many printings including color printing.
As a liquid feeding method for a liquid ejecting apparatus represented by an ink jet recording apparatus, there is a method for feeding a liquid from a liquid container storing the liquid to a liquid ejecting apparatus. Furthermore, in the liquid feeding method by the liquid container, to allow a user to simply exchange the liquid container at the point of time when the liquid in the liquid container is consumed, the liquid container is generally structured as a cartridge removably mounted on the liquid ejecting apparatus.
Generally, the ink jet recording apparatus has a carriage moving back and forth along the recording face of a recording medium having a recording head for injecting ink drops and as an ink feeding method from the ink cartridge to the recording head, there is a method for feeding ink to the recording head from the ink cartridge which is mounted in the carriage and moves back and forth together with the recording head. Further, as another method, there is a method for mounting the ink cartridge in a case of the apparatus body and feeding ink to the recording head from the ink cartridge via an ink flow path formed by a flexible tube.
In either of the aforementioned ink feeding methods, it is required to mount and fix the ink cartridge easily and surely at a predetermined position of the apparatus body and furthermore, when exchanging the ink cartridge, it is required to remove the ink cartridge from the apparatus body easily and surely.
Therefore, in the conventional ink jet recording apparatus and ink cartridge, as a mechanism for surely fixing the ink cartridge at the predetermined position of the apparatus body, for example, a mechanism for inserting the ink cartridge into a cartridge holder of the apparatus body and then operating a stopper lever to press and fix the ink cartridge is used.
However, in such a cartridge fixing mechanism, the step of inserting the ink cartridge into the cartridge holder and the step of fixing the ink cartridge after insertion by operating the stopper lever are independent of each other, so that the mounting operation of the ink cartridge on the apparatus body is complicated. Further, in the conventional cartridge fixing mechanism, when removing the ink cartridge, the operations of the two steps are required.
Further, a mechanism for realizing the fixing of the ink cartridge at the time of mounting simultaneously with the insertion step may be considered. However, also in this case, when removing the ink cartridge, a step of releasing the fixing is required and the fixing release step is executed by an operation exactly different from the cartridge pull-out operation to be executed subsequently. Therefore, the cartridge removal operation is made complicated.
Therefore, to respond to the aforementioned problems, a constitution that a slider member (translationally movable member) is installed on the cartridge mounting unit of the ink jet recording apparatus, and at the time of mounting the ink cartridge, the ink cartridge is connected to the slider member, and the apparatus side fixing structure and cartridge side fixing structure are co-operated, and the movement of the ink cartridge in the pull-out direction is restricted releasably is proposed (Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-290713).
In the ink cartridge and the ink jet recording apparatus in which the ink cartridge is mounted proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-290713, the positioning accuracy of the ink cartridge to the slider member is important.
Further, among conventional ink jet recording apparatuses and ink cartridges, as indicated in WO 99/59823, there is a constitution that a storage device including a storage element (IC) for storing information such as the ink kind and residue is installed in the ink cartridge and an apparatus body side contact connected to the storage device side electrode is installed on the cartridge mounting unit of the apparatus body.
And, when mounting the ink cartridge having such a storage device in the apparatus body, at the time of mounting the ink cartridge on the apparatus body, it is necessary to surely connect the storage device side electrode to the apparatus body side contact and moreover it is necessary to surely maintain the connection state. Namely, it is necessary to suppress the displacement between the apparatus body side contact and the storage device side electrode within the conductible range. For example, it may be considered to increase the tolerance of the displacement to the apparatus body side contact by increasing the size of the storage device side electrode. However, a problem arises that in correspondence to enlargement of the storage device side electrode, the ink cartridge itself is enlarged.
The problem concerning the connection of the ink cartridge having the aforementioned storage device is important also in the ink cartridge and the ink jet recording apparatus in which the ink cartridge is mounted proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-290713 mentioned above.
Further, generally, in the ink jet recording apparatus, an ink feed needle to be inserted into the ink feed port of the ink cartridge at the time of mounting the ink cartridge is installed, and when mounting or demounting the ink cartridge, ink may leak from the ink feed needle. Ink leaking from the ink feed needle and diffused in the apparatus might soil a recording paper or short-circuit the electric wire.
As a measure for responding to the ink leakage problem, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H5-4349, a constitution is disclosed that an absorbent material for absorbing ink leaking from an ink feed needle when mounting or demounting the ink cartridge is installed in the ink cartridge.
Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H11-70663, a constitution is disclosed that an ink absorbent material is installed in a member rotating by being pressed by an ink cartridge inserted in an apparatus, and at the time of mounting the cartridge, the ink absorbent material moves to a saving position by the rotation, and when the cartridge is not mounted, ink leaking from an ink feed needle is absorbed by the ink absorbent material.
However, in the above constitution that the ink absorbent material is installed in the ink cartridge, a problem arises that when the cartridge is not mounted, ink adhered to the ink feed needle or ink leaking from the ink feed needle cannot be absorbed.
Further, in the above constitution that the ink absorbent material which rotates by being pressed by the inserted ink cartridge and moves to the saving position is installed, a problem arises that a rotation mechanism for rotating the ink absorbent material is necessary, thus the structure of the apparatus is complicated, and a large exclusive space to reserve a rotation space of the ink absorbent material is required, thus the apparatus is enlarged.
Further, in consideration of displacing the ink absorbent material by the rotation, a constitution cannot be used that for example, a circular opening is formed in the ink absorbent material, and the ink feed needle is inserted into it, and the ink feed needle is enclosed and protected in all directions.
Furthermore, in the rotation mechanism of the ink absorbent material, at the point of time when the ink feed needle is perfectly removed from the ink feet port of the ink cartridge, the ink absorbent material does not reach yet the neighborhood of the ink flow port of the ink feed needle and there is the possibility that ink leaking from the ink flow port may not be received.
Further, even in the aforementioned ink cartridge and ink jet recording apparatus proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-290713, it is necessary to absorb ink leaking from the ink feed needle when the ink cartridge is mounted or demounted and to absorb ink leaking from the ink feed needle when the ink cartridge is not mounted.
Further, among conventional ink jet recording apparatuses and ink cartridges, as indicated in WO 99/59823, there is a constitution that a storage device including a storage element (IC) for storing information such as the ink kind and residue is installed in the ink cartridge and a recording device side contact connected to the electrode of the storage device of the ink cartridge is installed on the cartridge mounting unit of the recording apparatus.
Even in the ink cartridge and ink jet recording apparatus in which the ink cartridge is mounted proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-290713, a constitution is indicated that the recording device side contact is installed on the slider member and the electrode of the storage device of the ink cartridge is connected to the recording device side contact.
And, in the ink jet recording apparatus proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-290713, an electric cable for connecting the recording device side contact installed in the slider member to the apparatus body including a controller is required. However, when the slider member moves forward or backward, there is the possibility that the electric cable may be disconnected from the slider member side connector.
Therefore, a disconnection preventive structure for preventing such disconnection of the electric cable is required, though it is difficult from the viewpoint of design to form a disconnection preventive structure for the electric cable in the limited space (the thickness and depth directions) in the recording device. Further, it may be considered to use a cable insertion part with a disconnection preventive function provided. However, it is difficult to reserve a sufficient space for the cable connection operation around the slider member.
Furthermore, in the ink jet recording apparatus proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-290713, the electric cable displaced when the slider member moves forward or backward must be prevented from being caught by the surrounding members.
Further, in the ink jet recording apparatus proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-290713, a stopper pin of a rotation lever member constituting the apparatus side fixing structure is stopped by a stopper unit of a guide groove of the cartridge side fixing structure, thus the ink cartridge is fixed at a predetermined position.
And, the guide groove of the cartridge side fixing structure is formed so as to change the depth thereof in the longitudinal direction (extension direction), and the end of the stopper pin slides on the bottom of the guide groove, thus the part of the rotation lever member at its end displaces in the direction of the rotation axial center by its flexibility. Particularly, when taking out the ink cartridge in the mounted state by releasing the fixing thereof, the part of the rotation lever member at its end is most displaced in the direction separating from the ink cartridge in the direction of the rotation axial center.
Therefore, it is necessary to reserve a space (displacement allowable space) for allowing a displacement of the part of the rotation lever member at its end in the direction of the rotation axial center around the rotation lever member. There is a need for reserving a displacement allowable space without increasing the size (for example, thickness) of the ink jet recording apparatus.
Further, assuming a case that a user is intended to forcibly pull out the ink cartridge in the mounted state by mistake or a case that a great shock is given to the ink cartridge, in the mounted state of the ink cartridge, it is desirable to prevent the fixing of the ink cartridge in the mounted state from releasing by mistake by restricting the displacement of the part of the rotation lever member at its end in the direction of the rotation axial center (more in detail, the direction separating from the ink cartridge). On the other hand, at the time of insertion or take-out of the ink cartridge, it is necessary to ensure a smooth rotation of the rotation lever member and a smooth displacement thereof in the direction of the rotation axis.
Furthermore, assuming a case that a user unreasonably pulls out the ink cartridge in the mounted state, even in such a case, it is desirable to prevent the stopper pin of the rotation lever member from breaking.